Matthew Goodman

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Dead End for Class Certification? Ninth Circuit Provides Roadmap for Defending Independent Contractor Misclassification Class Claims

By Todd Lebowitz and Matthew Goodman on July 8, 2022 Posted in Class Action, Class Certification

For businesses using independent contractor vendors, misclassification claims are usually well-suited for class certification. A plaintiff’s path toward certifying a class can be relatively smooth when all vendors of a particular kind are treated as contractors. The argument goes that if one is misclassified, all are misclassified. But a new Ninth Circuit ruling may help … Continue Reading

Ninth Circuit Rejects Airline’s Constitutional Challenges to California’s Wage Statement Statute

By Matthew Goodman on February 15, 2021 Posted in Wage and Hour

Virtually by definition, many transportation workers, and many employees of airlines and railroads in particular, regularly travel and work in many states. For the most part, that does not impede their work or their employers’ businesses, but what if one state’s laws (read California’s) are unusually burdensome? That issue arose in a pair of class … Continue Reading

Ninth Circuit Again Complicates CAFA Removal Standards

By Matthew Goodman on December 30, 2020 Posted in Class Action Fairness Act

Congress enacted the Class Action Fairness Act to address perceived problems with the handling of class actions by courts. Among its provisions was one permitting removal of more class action claims to federal court. The Ninth Circuit in particular was unfriendly to these new provisions, but, we had thought, the Supreme Court put the matter … Continue Reading